Perihelion and Latest Sunrise

The sun is closer to the Earth in early January than at any other time of the year. The sun actually reached it’s closest point to Earth yesterday, January 2nd and that is called Perihelion. The sun is actually 3 million miles closer to Earth now than it is in the first week of July. Also, the sun’s light is actually 7% brighter in the first week of January than in the first week of July. Keep in mind that the sun is dimmer as it gets closer to the horizon and shines through a larger layer of air (and dust). You can look at a sunrise or sunset, because the sun isn’t as bright as it is when it has to come through the larger layer of air. I know what some of you are thinking…how come we have the coldest weather when the sun is closest to us? Our seasons are caused by the Earth tilting toward and away from the sun. Today, the sun climbs to only about 25 degrees above the horizon at solar noon (about 12:50 PM) and it stays out for 9 hours and 7 minutes. We’ve gained 7 minutes of daylight since the Winter Solstice back on 12/21. In the first week of July, when we have Aphelion (Earth farthest from the sun), the sun climbs to 70 degrees above the horizon at solar noon and it’s out for 15 hours and 6 minutes. If Perihelion and Aphelion were reversed, with the Earth closest to the sun in July, West Michigan would be 3 degrees colder in January and 3 degrees hotter in July. Today (Jan. 3) we also have our latest sunrise of the winter at 8:14 AM. We are now gaining about one minute of daylight each day. Interesting fact: If you could drive toward the sun continuously at 55 mph today, it would take you 196 years to reach the sun if it were 94.5 million miles away (roughly the time between World Series wins by the Chicago Cubs). Click the picture twice to super-size…picture from Wikipedia.

I’m on your side Travis. I think we are in a pattern and will stay that way for a while. Despite all of this, I am an all or nothing kinda person. Either the little bit we have melts away, or we get blasted by a blizzard. This 1/2 inch here and there is for the birds.

“”[Ann Arbor] was really conservative when I was a kid, it was Eisenhower-ish when I was a kid. My father was a Republican and my mother was real strict as far as honesty and as far as paying the bills. That was hammered all the time: you must pay the bills at the end of each week, and don’t spend too much, and all that.”

He could certainly teach you a thing or two. Honesty for one…you lied when you claimed that Romney was a polygamist! And he could teach Harry Reid a thing or two about paying the bills. Reid can’t even come up with a budget…he’s required to by law and it hasn’t been done since 2009.

I think looking at the temperatures building near the Yukon and across Siberia which will push close -70 degrees next week and we get a big push of arctic air then possibly the last week of January/first week of Feb. could be the coldest part of winter. Usually the warmest part of summer is toward the last part of July/early August (typically) and the coldest is as stated above. So will see.

Kevin, it has been warmer in Anchorage, Alaska the past few days than in Grand Rapids. That’s because of the Japanese Current pushing the warmer waters of the south Pacific in that direction. Fairbanks, on the other hand, has been quite cold…normal for Alaska in the winter. While I am not fond of cold weather, I do wish Mother Nature would make up her mind – either get good and cold and stay that way or warm up and stay warm and then by March, it can get hot.

I looked up the winter of 78/79 and we were way below normal snowfall until the big blizzard at the end of January and then it snowed all the way til April and I know it got dam cold after all that snow on the ground cause I got frost bite when I was kid that year.

Bill, good read on how near to the sun we are and what it means to us. Way back in school we learned that the earth is 93 million miles from the sun. I’m guessing that’s an average of the near and far. So that means we are 92.5 mill as of now and in the summer it puts us at 94.5 mill. On the flip side of the earth, or down under side that means the sun is closer during the summer and more distant during winter. Does that mean places are warmer in summer and colder in winter in the summer hemisphere?

Something to think about… The Northern Hemisphere has nearly twice the amount of land mass than the Southern Hemishpere (approximately 39% v. 19% of land as compared to ocean coverage of 60% [Northern] and 80% [Southern]. Water also retains heat better than land in general…

It presents an identification challenge. How does the blog software know if it’s actually you who wants to edit your post (and not a mischievous family member or a malicious neighbor sharing your IP address)? There are a couple ways that it could, each with their downsides:

Iabsolutely agree! I must admit I am nervous about this spring/summer temps, hoping we are lucky with the temps like we were last year but more so for more thunderstorms maybe if the weather pattern wasn’t so boring people would get a long better and not be so bored and attack one another. We need a good weather event to bring us together and unite as storm lovers rather snow or thunderstorms, it gets fun when the weather gets active.

Bill,
I’ve known that the sun is closest to the earth in Jan and always wondered:
Does that cause the northern hemisphere (sp) to have milder winter as the sun is closer in winter and further away in the summer, thus milder summers?

And the opposite true in the southern hemisphere, colder for their winter and hotter for their summers?

Yes, that’s true. If the situation was reversed, with the sun closer to the Earth during the Northern Hemisphere summer, then July would be 3 degrees warmer in G.R. and December/January would be 3 degrees colder. The difference is minimized in the Southern Hemisphere because that Hemisphere has more ocean and less land. Water is more difficult to move when it comes to temperature. The surface water temperature at the beach in Grand Haven may only change by 2 degrees over the course of a 24-hour July day.